From the Shadows of Our Hearts
by Krazykandyman
Summary: Blacklight has always looked out for himself. This was why he started working for the Light. But when a series of events make Blacklight rethink his life, will he walk a path of redemption or damnation. Set between the 5 year gap. Normal pairings so don't worry you spitfire, chalant, and for the time being supermartian fans. Setting it on T for now for the sake of my Bat-paranoia
1. Chapter 1

**Here's a new story that I thought up of. Thanks to a friend who gave me the inspriation.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, DC Universe...ect ect ect**

**__**_"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing" -Edmund Burke_

From the Shadows of Your Heart.

**Mount Justice: October 11 2014, 21:00 NST**

The Team was surrounding Batman as he debriefed them on their new mission. And apparently the Dark Knight required all members to be part of this mission. From the original members with Dick Grayson now Nightwing and the Batman bringing in two new members, Batgirl and a new Robin. To say the least it was fairly confusing and it was odd how things were playing out. In the three years since the Starro-tech incident the Team has become stronger and for various pairs, more intimate. As Batman began his explanation he brought up a picture of a teenage boy wearing the oddest uniform. From the bottom he wore black combat boots with cargo pants which seemed to fit his lower half of his body securely. His body itself was covered in a black hoodie that was under a black form fitting coat, the hood covering his face. Lastly his hands were covered in fingerless gloves with metal guards to protect the back of his hands.

"His name is Blacklight. Birth name, unknown. Age approximately 18. Abilities unknown. Origins, unknown. Since the Starro-tech incident two years ago the League has been putting their efforts on finding out who is the Light and what are their goals. There were various leads including Arms dealing, human trafficking and experimentation, and bio-chemical experimentation. These leads would lead the League to various stations and factories throughout the world." At that the Batman brought up another image. The image was a world map with 12 different points on all the continents. "As you can see we discovered the link between these points on the map with the Light. However when League members went to these points all structures was empty of anyone. Evidence showed that there was recent activity, but they cleared out too quickly to be a coincidence. The theory was that the League had a new mole that was feeding information to the Light, but we quickly discarded that theory." Batman said this quickly as he saw how the original Team members reacted to the idea of a new mole. "Although there was no activity in the factories we were still able to find locals who had links to the factories. After Martian Manhunter dug through their minds we found one answer. Each and every point claimed that their employers were told to evacuate on the suggestion of someone by the name of Blacklight. Investigation showed that this Blacklight character is this person and his profession is being an information broker. We were able to link Blacklight with the Light, so it is safe to say he was responsible. Interpol has put a wanted warrant on Blacklight for murder and his involvement in genocide in North Africa. That being said he has become a priority to the League. We do not know how he obtains confidential information, nor do we want him to continue. Blacklight tends to travel all over the world, but sources state that he always returns to Hong Kong. That is what you are to do. Go to Hong Kong covertly and find and detain him. Then bring him back to the League so we interrogate him.

"Understood." Nightwing said as the new Team leader, Aqualad previously stepped down from the position as he decided Nightwing was ready. As the Team filed into the bioship, Batman called to the Team.

"Be careful. We still do not know how he obtains his information and regardless of how many security measures we have taken he may suspect that you are coming for him."

"Yes Batman, we'll be careful." Nightwing said with a smirk in an almost mocking tone of voice. Say what you will about Batman about being cold and distant, the guy deep down was worried but only the ones closest to him knew that. As the Team left the hangar Batman watched with worry. An opponent that even the League has never met and he just sent a group of skilled teenagers to deal with it. There were too many factors that could spell disaster for them. The Zeta-tube lighted up as Aquaman stepped through with two people behind him.

"Ah Batman, there you are. I would like to introduce you to Tula and Garth or if you may Aquagirl and Tempest." Batman looked at the two teenagers in appraisal but nothing else as the two felt nervous not only being in the presence of The Batman but also for the fact that this would be the official first time they were on the surface.

"Welcome. Unfortunately the rest of the Team is out on a mission. They will return soon enough and you can officially meet with them. Does Aqualad know of this?"

"No he does not. I thought it would be much of a pleasant surprise for him to have two of his closest friends to join him as warriors of justice." Aquaman said puffing his chest out with pride. Unnoticed to Aquaman, but noticed by Batman was how Tula figedetted uncomfortably at the prospect of seeing Kaldur once more.

_Unsettled issues? _Batman thought as he looked at the teenagers once more.

"Perhaps they could use some more field experience with you before they join the Team. As I already said they are out on a mission and hopefully will return quickly.

"Yes, I suppose I can teach them a thing or two before everyone returns. Very well, we will see you later on Batman, farewell." And with that Aquaman, Aquagirl, and Tempest left through the Zeta-tubes leaving Batman to contemplate by himself once more.

"Is everything alright Bruce?" Batman turned to the female voice that he was not even aware she was present, which just went to tell how much he was concerned if someone could sneak up on him.

"No, everything is fine." He said to Wonder Woman who was dressed in her hero clothes and looked ready for all sorts of action.

"Come now, you can talk to me." She said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I think I am just worrying too much. They are after all a capable team. They beat us after all." At that Wonder Woman gave a chuckle which she tried to cover with her hand.

"Very true." Clearing her throat she began to walk with Batman towards the Zeta-tubes. "I have been meaning to speak with you regarding my current protégé. As you know since Donna Troy left to pursue a life of her own I have been looking for a person to take her place. I found a girl with great potential, her name is Cassandra Sandsmark and I would like her to join the Team if possible."

"Send me her information and we can discuss this at a later time."

"Of course. Now how about you and I go grab some dinner?" Wonder Woman said as she hooked her arm around his.

"Diana." Batman growled but did nothing to remove her arm.

"Don't Diana me Bruce." The woman said as the couple went through a flash of light.

**Hong Kong: October 12 2013, 01:13 NST**

Blacklight walked down the warehouse hands in his pockets not caring that the fact there was a multitude of armed men running around moving large crates nor the fact that many of them seemed to be on edge. Raising his eyebrow, he was curious why there was such a high tension. Realization hit when he came across what he called the big hitters. There stood Lex Luthor, Vandal Savage, and Ra's al Ghul watching the progress with a look of uncaring. As he approached Blacklight started to walk with a swagger. His personal rule was to show a confident personality, even if each of these men could have him killed for no other reason than because he was in the way.

"Ah, Blacklight. And how are you doing this fine day?" Luthor asked with an air of a politician, asking to be polite but in reality could care less.

"Why are we here so early in the morning, I had a sweet comfy bed back where I was." Blacklight complained as he cracked his neck.

"Time is irrelevant boy." Savage said not even bothering to look at the information broker, but rather to continue reading whatever book he was reading. _Ass, you probably already read that damn book when it was published. _Blacklight thought while rolling his eyes.

"Anyways, I got something good for you." Blacklight said as he reached into his pocket and gave Luthor a piece of paper. "Blue Beetle's whereabouts. Apparently his civilian name is Ted Kord. Besides being some inventor he isn't really that famous. Considering who else is in the League I fail to see why he is so important."

"And that is what I believe we say is way above your pay grade. Nevertheless, we will transfer the funds to your account." Luthor said as he handed the slip to Ra's. "Perhaps your people are better suited for this endeavor."

"Of course, the League of Shadows will dispose of him within the week." Al Ghul said as he handed off the slip to a man clad in black who just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Well isn't that nice, everyone is here and I just feel silly being late." Turning around the group looked at Sportsmaster as he climbed the stairs talking in a mocking tone of voice as he gave the tiniest of glances at Blacklight. "Isn't it your bedtime punk?"

"Watch your tone old man. I unlike you haven't fallen from grace with The Light."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sportsmaster said as he walked menacingly towards the black hooded teenager.

"Let's do a tally shall we? First is your ex-wife who not only kicked you out, she is now a cashier at some grocery store. Then you have your youngest daughter who not only is part of this super sidekick squad, but she also helped arrest you and even is dating that loser Kid Flash." At this Blacklight couldn't help but laugh about that. "Oh and there is your eldest daughter. She abandoned you to get arrested, and now if rumors are true, she is trying to go straight. Well straighter than she was before meaning she isn't talking to any of us. She even has been seen walking out with that Roy Harper clone." Sportsmaster had enough as he roared and tried to lunge at the younger man who merely jumped back out of reach laughing. As Sportsmaster was about to charge again, Blacklight brought his forearms up to his face and two black and very sharp scythes just protruded out of his arms as the teenager got in a defensive position.

"Gentlemen, please let us be a little civilized. Things will never get done if you two try to kill each other." Al Ghul said giving off this killer intent that made the two freeze in their place.

"Yes dad." Blacklight said mockingly to Al Ghul knowing full well that showing angst like this will probably get him stabbed in the back but he didn't care. As he gave Sportsmaster a two fingered salute Luthor merely shook his head.

"Anything else of interest that we should know?" Savage asked as he finally lowered the book and looked at the young man. Backing up, Blacklight's eyes turned black and from those around could only see as shadows began to crawl up his legs and seem to embrace him. After a moment of silence and his black eyes going from left to right at super speed, he snapped out of his reverie with a smile.

"This is interesting. It seems that the League has sent the super sidekicks here to grab me."

"Oh, that will just not do." Luthor said shaking his head.

"We could always lay a trap for them." Savage said as he looked at Al Ghul.

"The League of Shadows shall assist. Perhaps we can have Blacklight act as a decoy as we once and for all deal with this annoyance."

"If it is all the same for you, I would prefer that we capture them." Luthor said as the rest of the group looked at him.

"What, do you plan to make them into clones like you did with Speedy?" Blacklight said crossing his arms. Suffice it to say, he did not like the idea of him playing bait.

"No, unfortunately it takes several weeks to create viable clones with the proper memories and programming to act as the originals. If the League does not hear from them for that amount of time and they mysteriously reappear, they will suspect a trick." Savage said as he started to walk away. "No, I think the best approach for this is to have them come to us and we merely capture them, we at least have the element of surprise."

"Whatever." Blacklight mumbled as he yawned loudly thinking of how hungry he was just then.

**Hong Kong: October 12 2013, 04:15 NST**

"Arriving at drop zone point." Miss Martian said as she steered the camouflaged ship closer to the drop zone.

"Everyone prepare for drop." Nightwing said as he stood out of his seat along with Robin, Batgirl, and Aqualad. As the ship floated above a warehouse the group dropped one by one as quietly as possible the last one being Superboy. Kid Flash ended up catching Artemis trying to be a romantic which only got him a slap to the back of the head by the blonde. And Miss Martian, Rocket, and Zatanna merely floated down slowly. "We'll divide in teams of 5. Me, Superboy, Rocket, Kid Flash, and Artemis will go to the western side of the warehouse by the waterfront. Robin, Batgirl, Zatanna, Artemis, and Miss Martian go to the East side by crate depot, there seems to be a lot of movement at this time and chances are Blacklight might be involved. Investigate but do not engage unless it is an emergency. Miss Martian keep us linked up."

"Uh Nightwing." Superboy said as he patted his shoulder to get his attention. Nightwing looked at Superboy a bit annoyed but changed when Superboy pointed down near the warehouse where a figure was walking by himself. "Can't tell from here, but I think that's our target."

"This is an easier mission than I thought." Kid Flash said full of gusto as he munched on a power bar that he had in his glove.

"Okay one Wally, don't say that, you're just gonna jinx us. And two, why are you eating now of all time?" Artemis said looking at her boyfriend in disbelief.

"High metabolism remember babe?" He responded.

"With all the sexual tension between the two, they must have not had sex yet." Robin whispered but everyone heard him.

"Robin!" Batgirl said totally embarrassed to be associated with him.

"Guys." Nightwing said but merely shook his head while holding it with his hands not believing they were having this conversation of all times.

"You guys suck." Artemis growled.

_GUYS!_ Miss Martian thought/yelled at her teammates.

_Thank you Miss Martian. _Nightwing thought to her as they looked back to the warehouse. _Same plan, but now we know for a fact he is there. Proceed with caution._

And so the two groups went to their respective sides of the structure and snuck in to see that the warehouse was for the most part empty besides a few boxes and a table where Blacklight sat at the chair with his feet propped up on the table listening to the iPod attached to a speaker.

**I'm awake, I'm alive**

**Now I know what I believe inside **

The Team looked at each other in confusion thinking the exact same thing…._Is this guy for real?_

**Now it's my time**

**I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life… **

The Team watched as he tapped his feet to the beat of the song while stretching his arms up in the air as if he didn't have a care in the world. The room was dimly lit and it seemed really odd that he would just be sitting there.

_Anyone else feel like this is a trap? _Kid Flash asked

_Don't say that! Don't say that! You're just gonna end up jinxing us. _Artemis said as she huffed in annoyance.

_You two really are the oddest couple. _Rocket said teasingly which got a mental giggle from Robin, Miss Martian, and Batgirl.

_Guys focus. _Nightwing said as he inched closer to see what was going on. As Nightwing crossed yet another stack of boxes, the lights flared on illuminating the entire warehouse. Looking around, the Team saw that they were surrounded by at least 25 members of the League of Shadows and the one leading them was none other than Sportsmaster.

_Told you to shut up. _Artemis grumbled as she drew her bow string back with an arrow.

"Daddy is very disappointed in you daughter dearest." Sportsmaster said tauntingly to his daughter as he started to spin a flail around above his head.

"Sorry dad!" Artemis said taking aim at her own father.

_Everyone scatter! _Nightwing yelled as chaos erupted. And chaos did ensue as everything moved in a blur. Aqualad went on the defensive with his water bearers turning into twin swords he took on 4 opponents at the same time. Kid Flash was running around at top speed taking out anyone who was in his way. Zatanna was casting spells to disarm and trip up her opponents while the Bat children took out their now weaponless opponents with a batarang, or bo. Rocket and Miss Martian for their part were flying in the air at a distance away from any enemies. Miss Martian was throwing anything not bolted down at enemies using her telekinesis and Rocket was using her energy shields as ways to shove enemies hard into things. Artemis was facing off with her dad once more, but he was proving to be a difficult target for Artemis to pin down with her arrows. The last member of the Team, Superboy instead going for all the cannon fodder went for a beeline for Blacklight who simply smirked as he brought his hands up in a 'come get me ' motion which only incented Superboy to roar and run faster at him. Blacklight scouted Superboy's fighting style beforehand and knew that the clone was usually driven by his emotions. And that was what he was counting on as Superboy did a giant leap towards him Blacklight started to form something from the shadows. All fighting stopped when Superboy came flying back across the warehouse and trashed everything in his pathway. Turning to face Blacklight they saw that he was holding a black two handed war hammer which began to dissolve back into the shadows.

"Heh, you got a lot to learn about fighting with me project Kr." Blacklight said in a mocking tone of voice which caused Superboy to roar and jump towards him again.

"Superboy wait!" Miss Martian yelled to no avail as the Superboy was once again unceremoniously put down. This time Blacklight formed two giant fists out of shadows which seemed to reinforce his attacks, demonstrated when he punched Superboy already on the ground causing the ground beneath them to form into a giant crater. Getting angrier Superboy got up and was finally able to land a punch on Blacklight which only caused him to stumble backwards a few feet. But as quickly as the punch landed, Blacklight merely righted himself up and brushed the spot where Superboy punched as if it was nothing.

_Damn that hurt! _Blacklight thought as he cracked his neck. Drawing in the shadows, Blacklight then unleashed from the ground over 30 shadow spears that went straight to Superboy. True he was invulnerable but a repeated barrage still would make a dent to him as Superboy was sent flying backwards tumbling until he did a backwards somersault and righted himself back up to his feet.

"You are riding my last nerve clone." Blacklight growled as he extended his left arm out and shooting out two shadow tendrils that went straight for Superboy. One wrapped around his neck and the other wrapped around his right arm as Blacklight reeled him in. Superboy stumbled forward and landed on his back. Before he could right himself up Blacklight planted his knee right on top of Superboy's chest and fumbled in his pocket for something. Whatever it was, Superboy couldn't tell, but for some reason he started to feel weak.

"ENOUGH!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned towards the source of the voice. What the Team saw made them all freeze where they were and stare at in horror. Blacklight with one hand held Superboy by his hair while his other hand held what looked frightening like a knife made out of kryptonite to Superboy's neck. "Surrender or bury a teammate your choice."

"Artemis shoot him!" Superboy growled as the knife scratched his neck drawing a small drop of blood, but to Superboy it felt like hot iron being put to his skin and he flinched in pain from it.

"No don't" Nightwing said putting his arm up to stop Artemis from even thinking it. "We surrender." He said grudgingly.

"Good boy. Gentlemen if you will, please disarm our guests." Blacklight said directing his attention towards Sportsmaster who was grumbling about being pushed around by a punk like him.

"Well, you heard him. Get to work." And with that the Team were disarmed and bounded. They were then led out of the warehouse where waiting were more League of Shadows members. They were moved to an underground facility that seemed dimly lit but was buzzing with activity as the Team saw more and more armed men running around with equipment.

"What do you plan to do with us?" Nightwing demanded as he was shoved forward by Sportsmaster.

"No talking." The Team were led into a room devoid of anything besides the door they came in from.

_First chance we break out. _Nightwing said as he saw that Blacklight shoved Superboy through the door taking the kryptonite knife with him. He received mental confirmation from everyone as Blacklight closed the door. As the door closed the lights to the room became brighter and then they heard a voice that surrounded them

"This is going to hurt." And with that electricity exploded out into the room electrocuting everyone. The shocking lasting for almost 30 seconds until everyone fell down into unconsciousness, the last one being Superboy who was able to see Blacklight reenter the room before he too fell to the darkness.

(") ( " ) (")

"Well done young man." Lex Luthor said to Blacklight as he entered the room where Ra's Al Ghul and Vandal Savage stood with their co-conspirator. "That went much more smoothly than I had anticipated."

"Glad I could make you happy." Blacklight said with sarcasm. "So what's the plan with them if you don't plan on cloning them?"

"My boy, this is a war between the Light and the Justice League. And in war it may be won with the soldiers and firepower, but the one thing necessary is information. These teenagers are nothing more than boxes of information on the League that we can use for a later date. For that, Her highness Queen Bee has lent us the services of Psimon. He will join us in a day and retrieve what useful information he can. After that, perhaps we can have him reprogram the children's minds to be useful to us. But we shall see shall we." And with that Luthor gave the group a smirk as Blacklight turned around back to the holding cell.

Upon entering the cell, Blacklight came face to face with the unconscious teens that were all suspended in various forms of bindings. Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Rocket, and Artemis were in simple bindings their equipment locked away in the box in the corner of the room away from them. Miss Martian and Aqualad were binded as well but had a heat lamp above each of them which made them much weaker. Then there was Zatanna who was bounded and actually had a gag in her mouth. Kid Flash was suspended in the air without binds, the reasoning being if he didn't have ground to run on, he was relatively harmless. Lastly was Superboy who was bound and had a red sun lamp above his head. Blacklight just stood there looking at the Justice League sidekicks with disinterest. That is until Superboy began to stir, shaking his head. Still blurry eyed he saw the restraints and began trying to break free. He however for whatever reason unknown to him could not muster his strength.

"I would say save your strength." Superboy turned to the voice to come face to face with Blacklight who at this point looked at the clone with crossed arms with eyes of uncaring. "Then again, I think I'm the last person you would be listening to."

"Let me go!" Superboy yelled trying with new vigor to get at the black suited figure in front of him.

"Why would I do that?" Blacklight said mockingly. "Knowing you, the second you're down you will grab me; most likely punch me until you cave in my skull. I like my skull the way it is all the same."

"Why are you working for the Light?" Superboy asked without preamble as he gave up trying to free himself.

"Straight to the point eh?" Blacklight said chuckling. "Well, if you must know, it's because of the money."

"That's your only reason? Because they pay you?!"

"Of course, money. Money is unbiased, it has no sides, and it serves a simple purpose. The Light, the Justice League they have their own ideals, I could care less what they were. And what about you Superboy? You are a creation meant to be used by the Light but you are working for the Justice League now. My, your father must be so upset with you."

"Lex Luthor is not my father!"

"Doesn't matter. You were a mere whim created because someone wanted to have an ace up their sleeve. Ironically it was your creation that made me choose this life of 'crime'." Blacklight said with air quotes. "Or is it not irony?" He thought out loud, finally giving a shrug like it didn't matter.

"What do you mean my creation was why you resorted to this life?"

"You and I, we are both Cadmus babies." Blacklight said with a smirk at the horrified reaction Superboy had on his face. "Well, I think I should make my leave. Tell your friends I said hello." And with that Blacklight walked away through the door leaving Superboy with his thoughts. As Superboy kept running through what he said he heard stirring to his right.

"Supey? What happened to us?" Nightwing asked as he shook the drowsiness from him head.

"Got caught." The clone said in a simplified manner.

"Thanks?" At this the rest of the Team started to stir all not happy with the situation they were currently in.

"This is not good" Kid Flash said to state the obvious.

(") ( " ) (")

The next evening as Blacklight walked down the corridor having no care in the world he stopped to observe the workers through a window as they removed what were in the crates. Giant mechanized suits with weapon attachments.

_Heh, the Light's new weapon._ Blacklight mused as he looked on in disdain. He had a particular hatred towards lab creations; they were always chaotic and very unpredictable, just like him. All of a sudden Blacklight felt agonizing pain as he grabbed the windowsill while his knees buckled under him.

_Shit, when was my last dosage?" _Blacklight said as he ran/stumbled to his quarters. Crashing through his door, Blacklight opened his locker and took out a vial filled with a yellow liquid. With shaking hands and shallow breathing he attached it to a nearby injector gun and drove the needle point into his arm and watched as the liquid disappeared. One minute passed than another, and Blacklight started to calm down.

_I REALLY need to keep tabs on when I take this stuff. _Blacklight thought as he straightened up and walked out of his room. Feeling much better Blacklight walked through yet another door when he stopped in his tracks.

"Psimon will be here within the day and soon enough we will have all we need."

"Blacklight has proved himself a valuable asset. It is unfortunate that he is losing his usefulness."

"So Luthor, you plan on giving that brat the formula to his precious serum." That voice was Sportsmaster Blacklight realized, he was now wondering what they were talking about.

"Of course I will give the boy the serum. It is just bad business if I go back on our agreement. It just might not be the serum he exactly wants. Blacklight is a loose end who's only loyalty is money. He is not a reliable business partner, regardless of how useful he is."

"Oh, that is quite devious of you Luthor. Giving the kid a fake serum and let him die. I guess that's how you fire people eh?"

"Correct." At this Blacklight turned around quietly and walked away with dark thoughts.

"Bastards think they can fuck me over and there won't be repercussions. Oh, I am so going to make them pay hard." Blacklight grumbled scaring some guards as shadow tendrils kept enveloping him. Blacklight finally made it to the holding cell and entered the room to face the Team all awake and irate.

"Oh, look whose back. I should have put an arrow through your eye when I had the chance." Artemis told him as she tried to pull free from her bindings.

"HEH you tell him babe." Kid Flash said which got a glare from the group "What?" For whatever reason however, Blacklight totally ignored them as he went straight to the lockers containing their equipment. He dialed a code but received an access denied sound. He tried a second time and got the same results. It would seem that they changed the code without telling him and he was getting annoyed with that. He tried one more time and he got the denied sound once more. And so with an angry growl Blacklight created a giant scythe out of the shadows and began to systematically slice the locker doors into fragments. "Someone's angry." Kid Flash whispered. After his fit of rage, Blacklight grabbed all the equipment and threw them to their respective owners and even threw a water bottle towards Aqualad and a couple of power bars to Kid Flash. Then walking towards the wall he turned off the bindings and one after another the Team fell to the ground. After regaining his feet, Superboy stood up and rushed Blacklight grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the wall.

"Give me a reason! Give me a reason why I shouldn't end you." Superboy growled and Blacklight coughed from the sudden intrusion of personal space.

"Even I think that's pretty dark coming from you Superboy." Blacklight said with a strangled laugh. "Besides, without me you won't get out and I know for a fact that you need to get out of here fast."

"Superboy, let him go." Nightwing said right behind the clone who looked reluctant to such a thing, but he did eventually. "Why are you helping us?" Nightwing asked glaring at the crumpled form on the floor, still distrustful.

"Let's just say that my clients decided to go against our verbal contract. So I'm no longer obligated to work for them, in fact they tried to screw me over so I'm gonna make them pay out the nose."

"Alright, so why are you trying to get us out so quickly though?" Kid Flash said as he finished his second power bar.

"Luthor rented out Psimon. From what they are planning they want him to play with your heads. You know, wipe your memories then give you a different set of controls to be useful to the Light. Honestly it doesn't sound original but whatever."

"Lead the way." Aqualad said having heard enough to make him as far as he could from here. "But we will be watching you." Exiting the room, Blacklight led the Team down the corridor. They came face to face with two armed guards who brought their guns up but were blasted backwards down the hall. Looking at Blacklight, he had his hand pointed at the guards and a shadow was formed into a ball the size of a golf ball. Looking closer at the guards they saw cracked craters in the guard's chests, but Blacklight didn't care and walked over the bodies of the guards. Finally ending in a fork in the road, Blacklight stopped and waited for everyone to catch up.

"Go right and you will get to the hangar. Get out of here as quickly as possible. The hangar doors can only be opened from the control room down the left path so I will go and open the doors for you." Without any other response, Blacklight walked off not even looking back at the Team.

"Are you coming with us?" Miss Martian asked fearfully. True she still didn't trust the guy in black, but he basically committed business suicide and from the looks of it he cut his lifeline and is walking down a lonely road.

"Nope." Blacklight said emphasizing on the p.

"Why don't you come with us then?" Nightwing said crossing his arms to the disapproval of his Team which Blacklight did not fail to notice.

"Thanks but no thanks. Last I checked I'm wanted on 4 continents for crimes against humanity and the Justice League has a beef with me. Suffice it to say, even if I decide to cut my business with the Light and help you it's not going to make all my crookeds straight." As Blacklight continued down the hall, an alarm sounded alerting everyone that they were running out of time. "You should get moving."

"You heard him!" Nightwing said as he led the Team down the right side hallway. As the Team entered the hangar they saw plenty of crates and plenty of guards but no open door.

"So we have to fight our way out or something?" Artemis asked as she drew her arrow.

As the Team faced off the various guards they were not ready for the surprise attack by a bunch of super teens. Everything was going smoothly until they heard a mechanical roar. This seemed to stop everyone in their tracks and look around in confusion. That was until 5 giant robotic suit came crashing through the door looking menacingly at the Team. The lead suit had a giant drill attached to its left arm and started to rev it up. The two on the left had different weapons on their left arms. One had what looked like a gatling gun which it began to rotate.

"Hey isn't that-" Kid Flash started as the other one on the left shot at him. "Yeah, that's a gauss rifle." He stated as he ran from another shot. The two on the right were no less threatening as they charged forward. One had a RPG (rocket propelled grenade) connected to it which it fired off at Rocket who used her shield to protect her from any major damage. The other had two carbon fiber whips, one on each arm as it lashed out and connected with Superboy who then got electrocuted from the whips. As Superboy began to stagger, the machine that held him then brought out a shoulder mounted 6 rocket pack and fired a missile at Superboy. Everyone watched in horror as Superboy flew off and looked like he would not be getting up anytime soon.

"This is not good." Nightwing stated the obvious after throwing several exploding discs to no effect. As Nightwing said that, the hangar doors opened. Turning the Team saw that Blacklight was there and was opening the door for them.

"You should really go!" Blacklight said over the microphone. With little reason to do the opposite the Team ran towards the door and Miss Martian called the bioship to them. As they neared the exit they saw that the outside was connected to a mountain side.

"What the hell!" Artemis exclaimed in frustration just as the bioship was banking so that they could board. But not quick enough as the 5 suits came rumbling towards them meaning to do no good. As the middle one came down upon Zatanna it slammed her down as it was ready to bring the drill down on her.

"Zatanna!" Nightwing yelled but knew he was too far to do anything. As the drill was coming down and Zatanna curled up into a ball the suit stopped. Everyone looked on in confusion until they noticed two black whip like tendrils that were firmly wrapped around the drill. Behind the suits was Blacklight holding back the suit and he began to form two scythes protruding out of his arms.

"Go now!" He roared as he jumped at the suit and started his version of chaos. The Team filed into the bioship, Nightwing helping Zatanna and watched as Blacklight went around taking on 5 machine suits and 2 dozen armed guards. For the most part the fight was one sided as Blacklight was defending from all sides. Finally he threw out 6 black shadow balls with white circles that just seem to float. All of a sudden the balls exploded throwing people this way and that. The Team, although they had to leave they just couldn't leave without watching how this would end. Once the smoke cleared Blacklight held his arms up, his left arm straight and pointing forward and his right drew back as if he held a bow and arrow. In his right hand he had a black ball where he then released and it went straight into the center of the group. It however, stopped right there without moving until it shot out a black laser at the whip user suit into the back of the right knee. The whip user dropped to one knee and struggled to get up only for the laser to break through thus amputating the entire leg and a disgusting liquid began to pour out of the now severed leg. Even though a comrade fell the other suits continued on as if nothing happened. The drill suit rammed into Blacklight knocking the wind out of him, but as he slowly tried to get back up he was hit by a barrage of bullets by the gatling and the guardsman. Blacklight held his arms up to protect himself as he slowly was forced backwards but was blasted on the edge of the hangar door by the RPG wielder.

"We have to do something!" Batgirl said worry in her voice. Like the others, she didn't like Blacklight, but he did free them and so she felt like she owed him this much. Her exclamation was too late as everyone watched the gauss rifle suit hit Blacklight square in his chest and watched as he plummeted to his death.

"M'gann!" Nightwing yelled as the Martian flew the bioship after the falling body. As the bioship flew level with Blacklight the bay doors opened and Zatanna stepped near the door steadying herself.

"gnirb mih ni" Zatanna casted as Blacklight's body floated towards her. As his body settled into the ship everyone backed to look at him as Nightwing began to examine him. He was having a hard time removing his clothes and he understood soon enough why he was having trouble. The clothes he was wearing began to shimmer slightly which got a gasp from Miss Martian and Zatanna.

"Woah, the guy's clothes are made of that shadow stuff. Gives me goosebumps." Kid Flash said as Artemis elbowed him into the side to shut him up. With a groan Blacklight brought his right hand to his face and started to rub as if he was just waking up.

"That really hurt." Blacklight said as he tried to sit up.

"And the award for most obvious statement goes to." Kid Flash mumbled which got him a stare down by the whole Team. "Shutting up."

"You okay?" Robin asked as he helped Blacklight to stand up slowly. He couldn't help but notice that even though the shadow clothes protected him, he felt up Blacklight and felt several ribs at least were cracked.

"I'll live." Blacklight said as he started to cough up blood, but quickly covered his mouth with his hand. That is when he started to omit a throaty laugh as he cracked his back. "There is a God who looks after the foolish." Looking around at the assembled team he gave a half smile. "Well thanks for the save but I think I'll leave now."

"You're leaving now?" Rocket asked looking like he said something stupid, which in reality was the truth.

"Just because you saved me doesn't mean what I said earlier changed. I'm a wanted criminal and I've done enough that I won't be walking away without paying."

"I turned out alright." Artemis said quietly as everyone looked to her and shifted uncomfortably. True everyone knew her families past and no one judged her about it, but it was still a touchy subject.

"Very true Artemis Crock, but then again you had Batman and Green Arrow to speak up for you, and like I said I'm wanted on 4 continents for crimes against humanity blah blah blah I probably won't get the same treatment as you. Lucky you." Blacklight said with a two figure salute mockingly. Stretching his arms the shadows began to envelope him as he gave a big smile to the Team. "Well I'm out, later." Before he fully disappeared, Superboy came forward and almost tried to grab Blacklight but thought it best not to touch him with all that shadow covering him.

"You said you were like me. A Cadmus project?" At that everyone looked at Superboy and Blacklight in shock.

"Yeah, I am. Consider me your big test tube brother, more or less. If you want to know more, go to Cadmus and ask them about Project Chimera." And as he finished that, Blacklight completely disappeared. As the bioship continued onwards there was a silence that no one really wanted to disturb. However that silence soon died as Nightwing cleared his throat.

"So, mind filling us in Conner?"

**A/N: If you are wondering about the dancing Kirby, I could not figure out how to do a line break because the little edit box tells my shift+enter but i see no change besides me hitting enter...so i made my own line break. Don't like it? well tough unless someone tells me what I'm doing wrong kirby is dancing. And I just realized that the suits that i discribed reminded me of Big Daddys from bioshock...I loved that game.**

**Bye for now.**


	2. Chapter 2

**And I am back...so sorry that it took me forever...just kinda took a major I don't care anymore moment with everything not related to school.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DC stuff including Young Justice**

_The noir hero is a knight in blood-caked armor. He's dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time. ~ Frank Miller_

_A Little Spiritual Healing_

**Des Moines IA: November 4 2014, 20:42 NST**

_Number 556761_, Number 037607…Fight!

Blacklight sat in a church quietly staring at nothing in particular remembering memories that still stirred in him. He stared forward without a care in the world and would have probably dozed off if it were not for the soft patter of footsteps coming up to him. Turning, he came face to face with a priest from the looks of his clothes.

"Can I help you?" Blacklight asked hoping the man was not hoping to try and convert him or something.

"Oh no, I am fine thank you. I was actually hoping I could help you. You have been sitting here for almost two hours and it got me curious."

"I like the quiet."

"As do I, but sometimes it is good to talk or at least contemplate out loud what you are thinking." The priest said with a smile.

"Anything I have to admit is something I wouldn't want to talk about. Now if you are willing to take indulgences then we can talk." Blacklight said with a smirk, but the smile just did not reach his eyes.

"Oh no, we haven't done that since Martin Luther." The priest said with a chuckle.

"Look padre, I am not catholic, so I am not going into a booth to confess my sins."

"Oh don't worry, I did not plan on it. I am just saying, if you need to talk, I am here to listen." The priest said as he walked away from a confused looking Blacklight. "Oh, I forgot to ask, but what is your name?"

"Nemo." Blacklight said as the priest looked at him oddly then started to laugh.

"Your parents have given you an interesting name, I'll give you that." And once again the priest walked away. After sitting for another 5 minutes 'Nemo' exited the church hands in his pocket. He had no reason to ask for forgiveness nor did he ask for redemption. In his eyes, blood was already soaking his hands. He had sinned enough that no person could see light at the end for him. Besides, he was already for all intents and purposes a dead man. As he walked down the empty sidewalk. He suddenly stopped when he heard a short yell followed by the crashing of trash cans. He shrugged and continued to walk onwards.

"Please, we'll give you anything you want, just please leave my family alone!" A male voice said. It was shortly followed by a loud smack and another scream, more feminine this time.

"I said shut up!" Another male voice said aggressively. Blacklight tried hard to walk onwards, continuously thinking _it's not my problem._ He stopped walking after he heard a whimper and a small voice almost crying.

"Dad!" At that, Blacklight closed his eyes and looked through the shadows what he could not see with his real eyes. There he saw a family of four, father lying beaten with a mother cowering in fear with her preteen son and teenage daughter. Standing above the scared family stood three males, the one at the front holding a gun while the two behind him held bats. All sensibility told Blacklight to walk onwards, yet another part of him told him to intervene.

_Damn it all. _Blacklight thought as he drew his hood above his face and stalked into the shadow. Still hidden in the shadows he looked on as the family cowered in fear and the man brandishing the gun was smiling at the family's misfortune. To anyone who can understand, this looked nothing more than a mugging that went out of hand.

"You know you two look very pretty." The gunman said to the two females who only whimpered in fear at the comment. Sighing with resignation, Blacklight finally made his move. Creating two tendrils he whipped the tentacles at the back right offender wrapping the tentacles around his neck and dragged him away into the shadows. As Blacklight drew the man into the shadows, his friend turned in alarm and brought up their guard, only to see nothing but shadows. They would have moved forward if it were not for the fact that their friend flew out of the shadows as if materializing above them and fell with a sickening crunch as he landed.

"What the hell?!" The second bat wielder said nervously as he backed away from his fallen comrade. As his back hit the wall he felt a sharp pain. Looking down he saw two blades had impaled him. One in the shoulder and another through the gut. Blacklight knew they were non-lethal, but it was enough to put him out of commission. The teenage girl screamed drawing the attention of the last mugger and her family as the impaled criminal fell to the ground and in his place came out a black hooded figure out of the wall, or more accurately the shadows.

"Who the fuck are you?!" The gunman said as he raised his gun at Blacklight who looked on with a bored expression.

"I'm just a monster." Blacklight said as shadow scythes appeared out of his forearms. Charging forward and swaying left as a bullet went past his head, Blacklight brought up his right arm and swiped the scythe effectively cutting off the gunman's hand. With blood spraying and the man scream, Blacklight stood straighter and looked around himself to see his work.

"You fucking cut off my hand!" The gunman screamed accusingly.

"I noticed." Blacklight said in a monotone voice. Approaching the man, Blacklight grabbed the man by the hair and forced him to kneel in front of him. With a look of contempt, Blacklight drove his knee into the man's face and watched as his body fell to the ground. With one brief look at the still cowering family, Blacklight started to walk away towards the street.

"Wait! What is your name? I want to thank you." The father asked as he stood up and approached Blacklight but backed away when Blacklight gave him a pitiless look.

"I do not need your gratitude. I am merely a monster that causes pain and suffering. For the sins that have been done I can never be seen as a hero nor can what I have done be accepted by anyone." Blacklight said as he gave a glance at the children who looked back at this mystery hero.

"Even so….thank you."

As Blacklight started to shift into the shadows, he thought: _Why did I do that?_

oOo

**Mount Justice: November 5 2014, 01:02 NST**

Batman stood at the computer screen typing away as Nightwing stood beside him with Batgirl and Robin standing a little behind observing. The rest of the Team were alert, but they used this uninterrupted time to laze about. Since the Blacklight incident, missions had been scarce for the Team as the Dark Knight spent his time researching about everything that he read in the report. Suffice it to say there were several members of the Team that were slowly going insane with the lack of missions. Most prominently being Artemis and Superboy. Artemis voiced her complaints openly while Superboy took a more silent stand on the situation as he leaned against the wall crossing his arms and if he had heat vision, he would be boring it into the back of Batman's head. After several repetitive beeps from the computer, Batman turned to the assembled superheroes.

"Project Chimera was a project using the collaboration of various science labs and funded by a branch of the Department of Defense with collaboration with Luthor Corporation." At that, there was a stir of unrest by the assembled group. "Guardian was able to declassify the project and give us whatever Cadmus had. It would seem that there was a fire that destroyed the facility and left much of the data either damaged or destroyed beyond repair. Project Chimera was the attempt to create a new age of superheroes."

"You mean create a new age of weapons." Nightwing said with a definite upset tone of voice while Superboy stood off to the side looking down upset. Yet again, Cadmus was trying to play God with people's lives Superboy thought as Batman continued. "A creation of a new generation of heroes using gene manipulation….and magic."

"What?" Nightwing asked as the rest of the Team began to surround the dynamic duo.

"Yes, it seems that Cadmus through a donation from Lex Luthor used a grimoire that tampered with the dark arts.'

"Are they insane? They don't know what side effects that may cause!" Zatanna the resident magician said more than upset.

"So let me get this straight? They used science and added a bit of hocus pocus?" Wally said twiddling his fingers as if imitating magic. "That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard."

"Regardless!" Batman said loudly to stop any further interruptions. "Stupid or not, it would seem that Blacklight was the final product. And it would seem the combination of science and magic is an effective experiment. After all, it was only several years ago the League was infected with Starro-tech that used science and magic."

"I feel like there is a but coming soon." Robin said as he stood slightly off to the side to get a better look of the file on the screen.

"But, it would seem it had a 14% success rate. Of the 50 newborn babies, only 18 reached to the age of 16. And to this date, Blacklight was the only one to reach the age of 18."

"Wait, wait back-up. Newborn babies?!" Artemis said in absolute shock.

"Yes Artemis…newborns. Cadmus acquired babies through…..unethical means. From the list that I acquired of the newborns, Cadmus was looking for a specific genetic marker. Once they found it, they either paid the parents a large sum of money to give the child away, or found a way to trick the parents to believe the baby died shortly after birth then falsified documents so that no one would track them."

"How horrible. With this information why hasn't the League done anything to apprehend them?" Miss Martian said as she shivered in distress at horrible acts that she was just learning about.

"Lack of evidence. There's more." Batman said as he brought up a video that was attached with the digital file. There were over 300 different videos all of which was showing preteen boys and girls going through a harsh regiment. Some videos showed hand to hand combat, others showed survival training, and there were even some that showed some of the test subjects being forcibly tortured with mechanical instruments.

"Why are they torturing them?" Barbara Gordon asked shock clear on her face.

"Pain threshold training and interrogation training." Batman said as a video played of a boy no older than 12 being strapped down to a table and being continuously shocked over and over. Batman switched the video as 6 mechanical arms drew towards the boy with knives attached. The next video was a video of doctors in lab coats injecting each child with a blue liquid.

"From what I can discern, the serum that they are injecting them with is a massive pain killer that if the subject does not go without, they convulse in pain after a 4 day period. There are several short videos showing what would happen if the subject did not receive their scheduled injection. Suffice it to say, it is something that you should not watch. The last 30 videos played were mostly labeled as graduation. On the video was what brought the Team to utter shock. From what they could understand, the children were forced to fight to the death. At that very moment they showed a familiar looking figure in the video creating shadow whips as he beat back his opponent. When he got the figure on the ground the boy hesitated not wanting to give the finishing blow. As he lowered his arm however, he flinched as if someone off the screen yelled at him and the boy cowered in fear. Then without further hesitation, the boy sent two shadow tendrils to the prone boy on the floor and wrapped the tendrils around the throat and held on until the boy stopped kicking. After the boy stopped moving the shadows released the dead body and the winner took a step back and turned towards the camera. What the Team saw was Blacklight only younger, and what caught theirs eyes the most was how his eyes were almost glazed over as if they were dead.

"Wait, I don't understand." Superboy started. "If this project was happening, then why didn't the league hear of it, or even why was the project that created me ever happened. I mean, they were creating their own heroes. Why make a clone of Superman otherwise?"

"Guardian gave us information on that as well." Batman said as he drew up several document files. "From what it says, the combination of science and magic caused a negative effect and gave the subjects a low mortality rate. The other issue was that, because the scientists were using magic for the first time, they did not know nor did they have the proper training to control the untapped magic. As such, several subjects went insane from the raw magic and either went berserk or killed themselves. After that, it was decided that it would be more efficient to clone already established heroes of the league. Superman was the obviously first choice to try and clone, but there is no doubt that there were plans to create other clones of members of the league if the cloning process of Superman was a success." At that statement, Superboy felt even more uncomfortable and just wished that the subject could be changed at that very moment.

"When the program was shutdown, the subjects were….euthanized." There was a scream of general outrage.

"How is that possible and yet they got away with that?" M'gann asked even more upset as she was before. As if to answer her question a video began to play on the screen of over a dozen teenagers no older than 15 in a chamber that was slowly filling with a gas. Most of the Team looked on minus M'gann who turned away and started to cry to Barbara running to the kitchen and throwing up. Those who watched on saw on the screen the last living teenager crawling to the shadows and then vanish through said shadows. At that, Batman turned off the video and allowed a moment of silence as he registered the reactions of the various teenagers in the room.

"We need to find him." Nightwing said to his mentor and adoptive father. Batman nodded his head in the affirmative as he began to type away on the keyboard.

**Venezuela: November 6****th**** 2014, 13:34 NST**

In the forested area that was for all intents and purposes off limits unless you wanted to die stood a large factory. Blacklight looked on at the factory from afar, taking note of the guards and using his shadows to see how many people were actually in the factory. Sure it took time for him to gather so much information, but considering he was on his own he would rather not take the chance of an extra guard coming behind him when he wasn't looking. After several false leads and a lot of the wrong type of people being paid to give you the right type of information. Blacklight was able to narrow down a lead to this factory that were manufacturing those suits. To him, everything was black and white regarding business and personal feelings. However Lex Luthor and his associates made it personal for him, and he was making sure they would not forget him for a long time. When he finally gathered all the information that he wanted, Blacklight looked towards the setting sun and decided it would be best to wait until the sun was all the way down to allow him to get in and do the largest amount of damage. At that very moment, Blacklight felt an ache in his midsection as he began to be hard to breathe. Blacklight breathed heavily as he tried to stand back up. Even though he had been rationing his injections he knew that if he didn't take them at regular intervals these pains would only come quicker than he wanted. That was merely one of many problems that he needed to deal with. As he looked at his own shadow, Blacklight could not help but notice the smirk on the shadow that was not his.

_Something the matter? _A disembodied voice asked. Blacklight looked at the shadow in anger.

"I thought I got rid of you. The last thing I want is to go on a murderous rampage because I couldn't control my inner demons."

_Call me whatever you want, but you know as well as I do that the darkness will eventually take over. And when that happens you won't have a say in the matter anymore. So why fight and just let me in. _

"Fuck you, you can have my body when it's dead and rotted." Blacklight said as he spat at his own shadow.

_Now, now, we both know that is very counterproductive. All I want for you is to let loose and have some fun like I do. Then again maybe I am just your imagination and you are just talking to yourself. Maybe I'm just your inner most desires with your powers._

"That's bullshit and you know it." Blacklight said as he ended his own conversation with a huff. With a sigh, he began the short descent towards the factory.

Once the door blew open, it was utter chaos. Technicians and scientists were running around not know what to do, while the guards went running towards the broken door. Blacklight could tell that these were not top class guards and more likely local hires. Half of them looked too young to be here most likely not knowing what they were protecting while the older ones had the appearance of someone who spent more time farming in the sun than work as an armed guard. Blacklight almost let out a laugh when he noticed that half of the guards with their rifles in hand were holding them like Rambo.

_Who trains these guys? _Blacklight thought as he took a slow and meaningful step forward.

"No tengo nada contra ti, pero site metes en mi camino voy a matarte." (I have nothing against you, but if you get in my way I am going to kill you.) Blacklight said looking at each guard one after another. One guard thought he could be a hero and raised his rifle up and took aim. Before he could pull the trigger though, Blacklight sliced the rifle in half with a shadow blade while not looking at the offending guard.

"Dejar!" (Leave) Blacklight roared as the factory quickly emptied out. Before everyone could get away though, Blacklight caught three scientists and reined them in towards him.

"Do you speak English?" Blacklight asked the scientist as they struggled to get away from the manifested shadows.

"Si….yes" One scientist said while the other two nodded. Without warning, Blacklight stabbed one of the silent scientists and looked at the remaining two as they listened to their fallen comrade drown in his own blood flooding his lungs.

"Let us hope that this stops any future attempts on saying I don't know or it cannot be done." At that statement, one man began to cry while the other effectively wet his pants. Blacklight knew that these men were just workers and probably were just paid well enough to know what they were making but not enough to know the purpose. Blacklight accepted the fact that he was a bastard and psychopath, but it didn't mean he couldn't be a mission oriented psychopath.

"Now tell me everything you know about these suits." Blacklight said as he pointed his thumb back to the assembly line.

"The-they are battle suits that we have been ordered to manufacture I swear. We are just told what to do, we don't know what they are meant to do or who."

"I don't believe you."

"I swear…but….but the weapons are advanced…we were ordered to use live people as the structure of the suits. We put them in a chemical induced coma and put them in the suits. We use a microchip to give those orders and actions. That is all we know." The scientist said as the second nodded as he tried to back further away from the threat.

"I believe you." Blacklight said as he released the scientist and backed away from the two. "Now go." With no further reason the scientists ran away for all they were worth. Blacklight looked at more schematics and saw that the suits were mostly powered by a normal charge, but liquefied kryptonite was used as an extra source of energy.

Taking all the information that he could, Blacklight began to do a final look around before he felt a sudden pain in his chest. Looking down, his shadow armor was already forming around the bullet hole and trying to pull out the bullet at the same time. Looking up, Blacklight came face to face with a guard with a rifle. Anger overcame Blacklight as he eyes turned black, his body temperature went up several degrees and he roared. Shadows enveloped his entire body, his face covered in a faceless mask with no eyes, and spikes across his forearms, shoulders, and his knuckles. He then used the shadows to enhance his body to launch towards the guard at a speed that was not possible. Grabbing the guard's skull with both his hands, Blacklight plunged his thumbs into the guard's sockets and kept pressing until the eyes popped like grapes. Blood and flesh flowed out and with a yell of pain from the guard and a bellow from Blacklight, the guard was slammed onto the ground and Blacklight kept slamming the guard's head onto the hard cement until the back of the head was nothing but blood and brain matter. Even after the guard's death Blacklight continued to tear into the man's skull as he reveled in the gore only then was he satisfied that he finally released the dead man's corpse.

Regaining himself, Blacklight looked at what he had done and felt nauseous. Using the shadows, he phased away from the factory and reappeared in one of his safe house in Taipei. Breathing heavily, Blacklight allowed the shadows to fade away from him and he started to relax.

_Why the long face kid_

"What the hell did I…no you do?"

_Not me, it was all you and you know it. I am simply your better half that you like to keep a secret._

"Bullshit, that wasn't me, I don't do that kind of stuff to anyone.

_Stop kidding yourself kid. You and I both know that you have gotten your hands plenty dirty without my help._

"Whatever." He felt dirty and exhausted, he needed a shower and was headed to the bathroom until he felt a sudden pain in the back of his neck. Reaching around his neck, he pulled out a dart. Then turning around he came face to face with 4 masked women.

"Damn." Blacklight said as he collapsed and finally lost conscious.

oOo

**Tibet 4 Hours Later**

"Argh, fuck me." Blacklight groaned out as he took in his surroundings

"I see that you are up Shadow Weaver. And your language has not improved since the last time we spoken" That voice made the hairs on the back of Blacklight's neck standup and his heartbeat speed up.

"Talia." Blacklight turned to the speaker and saw before him a woman that scared him beyond anyone that he ever faced in his short pointless life. Talia al Ghul, daughter to super villain Ras al Ghul and lover of the Batman.

"Why are you giving me that look? If I didn't know any better, I would think you did not want to be near me."

"Well considering that the last time we saw each other you promised to eviscerate me. Not to mention the fact that you had your personal guards take me…let's just say that I was not expecting such a friendly reception from you."

"Regardless, I want you to relax. Tea?" Talia asked as one of her assistants brought up a porcelain tea set.

"Thank you." Blacklight said in his most diplomatic demeanor. For the next 20 minutes, Blacklight and Talia spent the time with idle chatter until they lulled themselves to an imposed silence.

"Walk with me." Talia said more of a demand than a request. As the two walked, Blacklight heard a muffled scream from behind a closed door. More out of curiosity than anything else, Blacklight used his shadows to look behind the doors. At first, Blacklight could not believe who he was looking at.

"How is he alive!?" Blacklight roared at the female assassin. Talia then leaned in and started to whisper into his ear. "You are not sure, but you thought using the Lazarus Pit would help him readjust?! Are you insane?" Blacklight growled. Talia of all people should know what affects the pit has on people.

"Why do you judge so harshly? It is not like this will have any serious negative effects."

"You and I both know there will always be a consequence to something like this. What is dead should stay dead….this isn't natural at all. I don't know why you brought me here and I don't know what you plan to do with him, but I don't want any part in this and I want out." As Blacklight started to walk away, a hand grabbed him.

"Please wait, I just need some time to explain this, afterwards you can go wherever you please."

"Then talk."

"It is no secret my father and his associates have been working on something that is aimed at eliminating the threat of the Justice League….and their partners. I don't know exactly what their true goals are, but from what I was able to learn, they found something extraterrestrial and have been finding a way to bring it to Earth."

"That doesn't really tell me anything besides they found something alien and want to use it. Last time I checked, they used something alien and controlled the League. Unless you know something more, what you told me is essentially useless."

"That I do not know any true specifics. However, my father has mentioned something called The Ultimate."

"Again, that is very general and unless I know context, it is going to do me little. Besides, there has to be something in it for you that you are willing to defy your father to give me this information which I am assuming you plan for me to pass it on to the League."

"Yes, and no. My father's vision of the world with the League of Shadows is ideal, but he has changed. Before, it was ideal of the leadership changing to us and we create a balanced world. Now however, my father is turning into what he despises. He has fallen from grace and it is in the best interest that he and his partners are stopped. The League is the most straight forward to do this.

"Fair enough. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you. And I would appreciate that you not mention what you saw earlier."

"Fine, but I hope you know what you are doing."

**Happy Harbor: November 7****th**** 2014, 02:42 NST**

Wally, Conner, and Dick with his sunglasses were walking the streets of Happy Harbor. Truth be told, what with the number of members coming and going from Mount Justice it was getting little or more crowded. For the three it was a rarity that they would have free time, even rarer that they would have free time at the same time. Batgirl and Robin were doing their rounds in Gotham and Batman was at the Watchtower. Flash like his nephew were too hard headed to look at each other straight in the eye and now a days only teamed up when the situation was that serious. As for Conner, the relationship between him and Superman was better, but not that settled. Superman accepted him long enough to help train Conner on how to better utilize his powers, but Superman still thought it was too soon for the world to meet Superboy and all Conner knew of his genetic donor was that he was a pie eating glasses wearing reporter.

"So Conner, where did Miss M. head off to?" Wally started as he finished his third bag of chips.

"Not sure, all I heard was that something happened in Qurac and it involved Mrs. Logan and Garfield."

"Wait you mean…" Wally started.

"Yes." Conner cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"Come on guys. It's our night off and the last thing we want to talk about is work." Nightwing started trying to change the subject.

"Fine then…So Nightwing, what's with you and Zatanna?" Wally asked with a smirk.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Nightwing said as he turned away not trying to look at his friends who were trying hard not to laugh at him. "What about you Wally? It would take us forever to get you away from Artemis. So what's the big change."

"Well…err…..I kind of…..forgot her birthday. So I am hiding out while the fallout goes away. Thankfully she is with Green Arrow….It's not funny." Wally said defiantly while Nightwing laughed and Conner chuckled. As the trio walked on they could not help but go back and think of what they have been through in their lives and counted the times when they had this relaxed state.

The trio finally ended up in a diner and sat around waiting for their food when Conner finally broke the silence. "Guys, I know that we don't want to talk about it, but when are we going to talk about Blacklight." The other two looked at the clone and held it there before Nightwing talked.

"Conner, you know that I know that there is nothing else but that we should really be focusing on. But Batman has put us off this mission and honestly, what else do we need to know that we don't know. The guy is a criminal and he has some unnatural powers that until we figure out what he plans to do, we need to approach with caution. All we know, he let us out because he is scheming something."

"Yeah, alright I have to agree, but what if he really did want to help us." Wally said in that person's defense.

"Wally is right, the guy helped us out, and the way he was talking about the Light backstabbing him, I doubt he was lying. And besides, he can be helpful with information and with how he fought." Conner said as a person in a black hoodie sat down next to him.

"And they said that my ego grew three sizes that day." Blacklight said as he relaxed and waved over a waitress. "Cup of coffee cher." Blacklight said with a New Orleans accent. Nightwing raised an eyebrow and looked at the person of interest.

"Since when did you have an accent?" Conner asked.

"I don't. It just makes things easier if no one really knows where you are from."

"Why are you here?" Nightwing asked without preamble.

"Relax, I ain't here to do anything wrong. I'm here with an olive branch. But how about you guys eat your food before your resident speedster cries about being hungry." All eyes then turned to Wally who went to rebuke that claim when his stomach grumbled. "Thank you for proving my point."

Two hours later with a satisfied Wally and a Dick Grayson who most likely did not have to explain the $100 credit card charge to his foster father the three heroes and Blacklight walked out of the diner and headed to the local park.

"So why did you come out here….and how did you know we were here." Wally asked the criminal and or ally.

"Please. Remember the whole Red Arrow fiasco…all I had to do was use my shadows to look into the town. Considering I know that you are using the mountain as your base and the fact that Conner doesn't really try to hide himself, well it was easy to figure it out. As for why….like I said, olive branch. It has come to my attention that even though you saw those battle suits, you are no closer as to knowing what they are and what were they made to do." Reaching into a shadow in the wall, Blacklight pulled out a thick folder and a small flash drive. Turning, he gave it to Nightwing and then handed a cell phone to Conner.

"The files I gave you is everything that I have collected about the battle suits since the last time we met. You can go through them yourselves but I'll just give you the high notes of the files. The suits are steel plated to allow a strong defense against normal damage but still has the mobility to outrun a normal person. The weapon is your normal military grade armaments most of which have Lexcorp written on them. The power source is odd enough, mostly because it has a dual power source. The secondary source is liquefied kryptonite, which probably explains why Superboy got weak when he tried to take one of these on. Most likely the best defense they could think of if Sueperman ever decided to take these things on. The primary power source is the bad part. It is human beings." Blacklight let that sink in as he looked at the three teenagers one after another.

"From what the file said, they forcefully put a human candidate into a chemically induced coma. Then they surgically implant a microchip into the stem of the brain and control the person like a computer avatar. Since the body is still active the chip acts as an electrical charge that moves the body and with the suit all they have to do is give it commands and it moves as it does. And since the brain is not functioning, speed and strength goes beyond the normal limits of a normal person."

"We need to tell Batman this and you are coming with us." Nightwing said directing his demand to Blacklight.

"Easy now, I'll talk to the Bat but I doubt he will trust anything I have to say. But…..don't worry, I won't step on anyone's toes." The three heroes had major doubts as to that claim but shrugged.

"We need to contact Batman then." Conner began to say before someone dropped in front of them.

"That won't be necessary Superboy." Batman stood straight up with a grim look on his face and a calculating mind as he began to figure out what Blacklight's motives were. "Nightwing, give me those files. As for you Blacklight, you will have to come with us." Batman said as he pulled out his cuffs.

"Hey now, that is definitely not what we agreed on and I think that this goes beyond my promise of playing nice." As Blacklight said this shadow scythes came out of his forearms. Unexpectedly, it was Superboy who came to the criminal's defense.

"Batman, he came here with this information. I know he is a criminal, but if he is willing to give this to us then should we at least give him the benefit of the doubt."

_He really is the boyscout's clone. Blacklight_ thought bewildered.

"If Superboy will vouch for you then very well." Batman said backing down after a minute of thinking and putting away his handcuffs.

"And I will forever be in his debt then. The cellphone I gave you has my number, speed dial 8. For the sake of safety, I would prefer that the circle of people that know that I am working with you is the bare minimum, such as you four. In all honesty I would have preferred someone not part of the League to know, but considering who the Batman is, he was bound to find out eventually." With a shrug, Blacklight started to walk away.

"Oh yes before I forget, let this be a parting gift Batman." And again Blacklight pulled out more files and threw them at Batman. "I stole these from the former office of Hugo Strange. During his work with the Light, Strange profiled you and started to figure out who is really behind that mask. He guessed your childhood as well as the stressor that caused you to become the bat and even started to guess who you were. From the diary that he had, from the original 60 candidates, he shortened the list to 5. I have not motives and I didn't peak into the names, think of this as my contribution to ensure the safety of the League, in part my insurance that I am on your side for the time being. Well, until next we meet."

Before Batman or anyone else could stop him, Blacklight vanished once more. Batman out of curiosity looked at the file and saw the number four on the list of people that could be Batman was Bruce Wayne. A chill ran though Batman's back at how close people were to finding out who he was. This only left even more to the mystery of Blacklight and what he really wanted out of this.

**Des Moines IA: November 7, 22:15 NST**

"I see you are back Nemo." The father from before found Blacklight sitting where he was the last time as if he did not move since three days ago.

"The quiet gives my mind clarity."

"It usually does."

"Padre, do you think there can really be salvation for someone like me. I know I have never been a good person, but life and circumstances seems to push me towards trying to be a good person."

"Forgiveness is one of the goals we try to preach here. So yes, I think there can be hope for you."

"You know, when I first really started to live…it was Christmas time and I saw this movie. Can't really remember it but I could remember this guy named Jacob Marley walking around with chains wrapped around him. Heh, the chains we forge in life binds us in death I suppose."

"I believe that movie you saw was called Christmas Carol. You give yourself such a bleak future before it is close to its end. As for your chain idea, I think that what you view as the sins you committed is what drags you down. When I see someone as young as you losing hope, and when I see the news of someone committing something horrible, I sometimes lose hope in humanity and start to question. But…there are other times there is a sliver of hope. For instance, did you know that the same night we met, there was a big fuss not far from here. A family of four, was attacked by three men. They beat the father and threatened to rob them and rape the wife and the daughter. But all of a sudden someone just came and saved them, true from what they said it was a bloody mess, but a family of four who saw nothing but tragedy to befall them were saved by a stranger who did not stay behind to claim a reward or fame but did it because it was a decent thing to do as a human. It is times like these that I thank God that we haven't lost ourselves." If the father only knew that Blacklight was that person, he could only imagine.

"That is something I suppose. Truth be told padre, I got the long face from the doctor and it doesn't look good for me. I guess I am just waiting for a bad end for me and it is really hard for me to find the good you keep seeing. Right now I am just trying to get my house straightened out and decide what I could have done differently." Blacklight gave a white lie for the most part and didn't see a reason for the father to know everything.

"I once read a book about a professor named Morrie Schwarz and I suppose you could call it my state of thought. 'It's not too late to….ask yourself if you really are the person you want to be, and if not, who you do want to be.' What I am trying to say my boy, is that it is better to live a life full of happiness rather than a life full of regrets. If you are not happy with what you have done, find a way to redeem yourself and move on. If you are that upset with the end, I can only say that you don't have much to lose if you want change. I am sorry for you, I wish I could do more for you, but for what it's worth I will pray for you."

"Thank you."

"I know it is not much and it probably won't give you the comfort you wish, but perhaps this will give you some peace." With that the father handed Blacklight a pendant of a saint.

"I can't take this." Blacklight feebly tried to give it back.

"Please, it is my job to help people find peace with themselves, and with God. I know you have little reason to look on the bright side of life, but I hope this will help if only a little." Looking more intently at the pendant, Blacklight then put the piece around his neck and continued to look at the pendant. "That is Saint Jude, patron saint of lost causes. Let him give you the peace that you wish for and I truly hope you find it." At that the father walked away leaving Blacklight to his thoughts once more.

_If only this could really save me. _Blacklight thought as to his confusion, tears began to fall filled with the regrets and turmoil that he still had and his new mission of making sure that before his time was up that he would right some of the wrongs he caused.

**A/n: Nemo means no one in Latin.**

**And indulgences were back in the old days when people would sin and they would basically bribe the church to let it slide.**

**And cher is a popular word in the French Quarter in New Orleans that is usually translated to love.**

**Padre means father in Spanish.**

** Well here is the chapter. I hope I can continue to bring this back alive...See you next time**

**Krazykandyman**


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